


The Game of FATE

by KriegsaffeNo9



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Fluff, Gen, International Fanworks Day 2018, RPG Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-19 04:25:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13696815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KriegsaffeNo9/pseuds/KriegsaffeNo9
Summary: Wherein Diana joins Akko and company for their weekly tabletop RPG game, and Lotte and Sucy both break out a fancy new spell.Done for International Fanworks Day 2018!  Wherein witches dork out about RPGs.





	The Game of FATE

On a blustery February night, not unlike today, our lady Lotte ran her weekly roleplaying game. This week, there was a new player--and Lotte was recording the whole thing for her burgeoning YouTube channel.

Their gaming room was a designated card-playing room in their dormitory, next to the commons room. At the time it was built it was illegal to for witches to play card games outside of thaumic Faraday cages, but fortunately, those laws lapsed when it was discerned that only a statistically insignificant amount of witch card games ended in inconvenient summonings or possession, and said magic disasters were often quite educational.

Plus, the anti-cheating wards took some of the blame off the dice, greatly extending their lifespan.

As Lotte set her viewing globe on its stand, Akko and Sucy took their seats, then Jasminka, who was new to the circle, and then at last Diana. This was her first time playing with them, and her first time playing any RPG.

"This is gonna be great," Akko said. "You're gonna love it, guaranteed."

Diana picked up a sheet of paper and looked it over. "What game are we playing, in fact?"

"Today," Lotte said, "we're starting a brand new game: Fight Fire, the firefighting RPG that uses the FATE system!"

Diana blinked at her.

"I got this," Akko said. "Did you ever see that firefighting show, what's it called?"

"Or that movie where the fire is the end boss," Sucy said.

"It's like that, but if it were a roleplaying game, and instead of a video game, it's like a board game, but no board, just dice. And a thing to keep track of your stuff."

"Yes!" Lotte said. "Except I am using a map for this one!" Lotte said, laying out a whiteboard and awakening the spirit of a dry-erase marker and eraser to relay her hard work onto it.

Diana cracked open a bottle of Perrier and took a bracing drought. "Alright... once more, from the top."

* * *

Five Wil Wheaton videos later, Diana was just barely on the cusp of understanding what the hell was going on. Alas, they had no more time, and things were gonna get weird.

"On the count of three," Lotte said, standing on her chair, "I'm casting the recording and visualization spells. Brace yourselves!" A ball of green light built at the tines of her wand. "One... two... three! _Heräämis uni!_ " The light suffused the room, blinding Diana and everyone else.

"What should we be doing?" Diana said, trying to will away the black blobs filling her vision.

"Imagine where a camera is and start talking into it!" Lotte said. "The spell will translate our majestic imaginings into spectacular visuals as it records our voices and send them to the external hard drive I have taped to the bottom of the table! Now pardon me while I sit dhhhhhaaooooown!" And she fell, but backwards, so as to protect the table, if not her head.

"I'm Atsuko Kagari!" Akko said in Lotte's direction. "And I'm playing Willie Dustice, the Irons! I got the axe and stuff!"

"I'm Sucy Manbavaran, and I play Tony Smehrik, the Vent." She'd defended her vision by combing her hair over both eyes, in subconscious echo of her mother's preferred look. "I choke fires, which also chokes people, or I do the opposite of that. So I'm basically God if He had a pair."

"I'm Jasminka Antonenko! I'm playing Bobson Dugnutt, the Chauffeur! I get to do the car and I make tasty food at base to raise the spirits of our noble heroes." She popped a Doom Cluster peanut-butter-and-toffee snack into her mouth for emphasis. She mainly echolocated, so she was fine too.

"And I am Diana Cavendish, playing..." She glimpsed down at her sheet as her vision started returning. "Mike... Sernandez. The 'Can.' Which I understand is the one who actually does the extinguishing."

"Very well!" Lotte said, back in her seat and only a little bruised. She waved her hands over her viewing globe. "Listen and listen well..." The viewing globe played Kevin McCloud music at a low volume. "It's August 18th, 2008. It's unusually cold, brought by a driving rain..."

* * *

Fire Engine 1, the name Sentinel Prime Was A Filthy Traitor spraypainted on its side, roared down the road, Akko-Willy standing on its roof, axe in one hand, another axe in the other hand. "Am I cool enough?" Akko said.

"I wouldn't be a fire that had to be fought by you today," Lotte said. "Bobson! Even with your sirens blaring, there's a block of cars ahead that refuse to get out of your way! What do you do?"

Jasminka chewed a Mighty Fat Nut cluster. "Mmm... I'm gonna spend a Fate point... and say that there's a ramp nearby that I can ramp off of."

"Ramp what now?" Akko said.

"Willy, will you hunker down as Bobson roars toward the ramp?" Lotte said.

Akko thought of her Be Cool aspect. "Heck no. Ride the chariot, baby!"

"Alright, gimmie Cope."

One Cope roll from Akko later, and Sentinel Prime Was A Filthy Traitor's landing contemptuously squashed a minivan. The crew sped towards the burning mini-mall, minus Akko, who had to commandeer a motorcycle, then back up and ramp off the ramp to not lose any cool. If nothing else, Akko was drinking in the Fate points.

* * *

The downtown minimall was ablaze; a round of notice rolls revealed the fire started at the Grain 'n Flame outlet, spreading to Kerosene Corner and Sassy Anne's Daycare. The dry-erase spirits drew a map of the mall, replete with different colors to show how severely different parts were aflame.

"'This will be a battle like no other,'" said Lotte, playing as Onson Sweemy, the department's officer. "'You have my support.' He leaves the business of firebattle to you--what do you do, noble heroes?"

"I'm going to put Tony on the roof of the daycare!" Jazzy said.

"Sure," Sucy said. "I start ventilating for fire to smother the flames." She picked up her dice and started rolling.

"Wait," Diana said as she looked over her skill list. "That means that anybody trapped inside won't be able to breathe."

"And let me ask you, water dog, what's easier to deal with: a child that's running around on fire, or one taking a nice sooty nap waiting to be saved by Mr. Fireman?"

"Granted," Diana said. "While she's preparing I'll establish the Wards of Cthugha and invoke the Breath of Cthulhu to--my character's a witch, right?"

"Well," Lotte said, "if you take it as a stunt at the cost of one refresh, I'll allow it."

Diana nudged her sheet at Jasminka, who changed it for her. "I'll do that. This should only take five minutes or so."

"Roll Extinguish for me to create an advantage!" Lotte said. "Now, Akko, you're a little late, but you're popping a sick wheelie and full of heroic vigor! What's your plan?"

Akko took her headphones off--she insisted on them so she wouldn't make decisions with out-of-character knowledge. "What's the situmication look like?" Lotte gave her the Cliff Notes. "Alright, I'm ramping off the fire engine, then I'mma hop off the--no, I'mma backflip off the motorcycle, and I'm gonna kick it at the doors, and then Diana, I mean Mike can get extinguishing!"

With how many extra Fate points she'd picked up, nudging her Breach roll to a +6 was no challenge.

"The motorcycle explodes a nice convenient hole for you to stride valiantly into as soon as Mike finishes her preparations!" Lotte said. "Tony's ventilation produces a lot of smoke but not a lot of fire--he's softened it up for you. Mike, your roll results?"

Lotte cleared her throat. "Diana, currently playing Mike, what was your Extinguish roll?"

"Ah, a three," Diana said.

"You're magicked up and have the Ensorcelled aspect You get a free invoke for a free +2 to any one roll, and you can spend Fate points on it for extra +2s until the end of the scene!"

Diana digested that bit of information. "Alright... I gird my loins and step into the fire, singing the Hymn of the Drowned to smother the flames before me." With a little coaching from Akko and Jasminka, she reported a mighty +8 attack on the flames.

"You're an unstoppable titan of fire-punching!" Lotte said. "You step into the smoky daycare, invoking the name of the Dreamer in the Depths and drowning the flames in the foyer! Tony, the fire's still raging in the back--and there's plenty of smoke up front, Mike and Willy. Willy, give me Advance to hack and slash your way through the smoke and debris, Mike, gimmie Rescue to look for people to... you know, rescue."

"And I'm turning the gun turrets on the other buildin's!" Jasminka said, miming manning the controls of a mounted machine gun. "Rollin' Extinguish!"

Things went smoothly... for a minute.

* * *

Everything exploded.

"Your ears ring, your wards evaporate!" Lotte said. "Stepping out of the heart of the flames is none other than..." She cackled with attempted menace. "Dean Wesrey! From your firefighters' college! His mighty thews flex as he raises his enchanted fire blade over his head! 'OH HO HO HO!' he says. 'The power of fire has converted me into something more powerful than ever before! You with your hoses and axes can't hope to stop me!'"

"Aw hell naw," Akko said. "I flip the guy off and say 'Yo, you can't stop Willy Dustice from bringin' the justice!' And then I switch to my Halligan for reach and stuff."

Diana pondered. "Hmm... alright.... so making an advantage is the name of the game. I'm going to... use Extinguish... to set up a perimeter around him... so he can't light more things on fire. And I'll spend a Fate point on 'Finest Student at the Academy' to get +2 to the roll. ... While saying 'I believed in you, you bastard.'"

"That's the spirit!" Akko said.

"That's a four," Diana said, pleased. "I'll call this one 'Dampened.' And I'll save the free invocation for now."

"I'm gonna try and get his sword with the fork part of my whatchama!" Akko said. "That's a Breach to control his irons with my irons!"

"Phrasing!" Lotte said.

"No," Sucy said. "Let her have this one. Let me imagine. Jazzy, you take over."

"Bobson will hand out delicious treats with the pie launcher!" Jasminka said, rolling away. "Hooray, that's 5! Delicious cakes fill the rumbly tummies of the hungry young men battling this fire so bravely." She shivered at the thought of it.

"Last but not least," Lotte said, "what's your plan, Tony?"

Sucy mimed hefting something big and heavy. "I'm gonna hop in through that vent hole I cut earlier and cash in all their free invokes on bringing my roof saw down on his head."

"...pardon?" Akko said.

"Wait a minute," Jasminka said. "I was gonna question him with my question box after we brought him in."

"What's that? Can't hear you. Roof saws are loud." Sucy rolled. "Shit yes, that's three plusses. Plus four Vent skill, plus two for my Lady Saw stunt, plus two for my I Will Dismember You stunt, invoking Literal Crazy Person for an extra plus two, plus your six points' worth of free invokes... for a final result of +16."

Lotte rolled the dean's defenses, realized she'd spent all of her GM-allotted Fate points, and compared his three points of defense to Sucy's attack. "Well... he's not gonna be a problem anymo--"

The visualization spell audibly hiccupped. Then the room flooded with enough red corn syrup for nearly twenty minutes of an Evil Dead movie. Fake blood dripped from the light fixture onto the map.

Jasminka tasted the fake blood. "Peppermint flavor?"

"s' how Sam Raimi does it," Sucy said.

"Sucy," Lotte said, "did you imagine so much blood that the spell's effects leaked into real life?"

"How would that even work?" Akko said.

"An illusion-recording spell wouldn't have conjuration-based side effects," Diana said.

"Okay, you got me," Sucy said, shrugging sarcastically. "I've been sitting on that spell for half a month. I just needed an excuse to pop it."

"Is the hard drive okay?" Lotte said. She felt for her wand, afraid that trying to wipe her glasses clean would smear them any worse.

"It should be fine," Diana said.

Puffs of acrid smoke billowed around the table.

"...unless Sucy imagined enough blood to go far beyond the hard drive's recording ability," Diana said.

"Oh, definitely," Sucy said.

* * *

Sucy looked at the bucket, looked at the red-colored card room, looked back at the bucket, and swore foul oaths to Zhar-Lloigor. She picked up the bucket and washcloth, tepidly opened the door, and stepped inside.

Safely outside, Diana and Akko sipped decaf tea and watched. "So, did you have any fun?" Akko said.

"Truth be told," Diana said, "I'm not sure."

"Aww..."

"I think I'll have to try it again. A few more times, at least. I was just about getting it, after all." She smiled at Akko.

"We do it every week," Akko said.

"Phrasing!" Lotte shouted from the big couch in the commons room, seated next to Constanze, who was hard at work trying to resurrect or salvage the hard drive. Also present, though snuggled up in her own chair, was Jasminka, reading tabloid internet rumors: IS JESSICA JONES TEACHING IRON FIST HOW TO KNIT PORGS? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR INFINITY WAR?

"She knows what I meant!" Akko said. "Besides, if you wanna be technical--" Diana silenced her with a feathery kiss on the cheek. "Oh, pardon."

"Worth it?" Sucy said to herself. A glob of corn syrup splashed between her eye and what one may presume was another eye. "...no. This was child's play. I could've gone so much further. Next time... that's when the big guns come out."


End file.
